Smart Home

Smart cameras might not be as “smart” as initially thought, according to new research by Kaspersky Lab which found many popular products are vulnerable to cyber-attack.First, many cameras have a flaw which one might expect – they can be broken into and used to spy on people. However, there’s more to it. Kaspersky says smart cameras can also be used to steal the victims’ credentials and launch attacks on other devices, using the camera as a bridge, of sorts.The vulnerability was found in a number of cameras and is “due to an insecurely designed cloud-backbone system that was initially created to enable the owners of these cameras to remotely access video from their devices.” Hackers, however, need to know the camera’s serial number in order to access it, so it’s not as easy as it sounds.While some manufacturers already fixed these flaws, others haven’t. “The problem with current IoT device security is that both … [Read more...] about Hackers could spy on you through your smart camera

The popular Hue lineup of smart lighting devices from Philips has now been extended to the garden, yard, and terrace. The new outdoor lights include wall-mounted luminaries, spotlights, and pillar post available in a variety of styles and color output to match your taste. The new outdoor lights work with your existing Hue bridge and app, which means they’ll work seamlessly with the vast Hue ecosystem of supported products. That means they can be controlled with Alexa, Siri, or Google voice assistants and can be triggered with the Hue Home and Away feature to light up a pathway using the new Hue Calla, for example, when you (and your smartphone) return home. Or, if you prefer, you can set the new Hue Lily spotlight to automatically come on between sunset and midnight in order to shine any of its 16 million supported colors onto your flowerbeds. Philips says the luminaries from the Hue white outdoor range are best located near the front and back doors to welcome visitors and repel … [Read more...] about Philips Hue now lights the great outdoors

Here’s the plain truth: if you want to take full advantage of your 4K HDR TV with one set-top box, it’s nearly impossible. The set-top box market for anyone with a 4K HDR TV is full of compromises at every turn. You want Dolby Vision? Get an Apple TV 4K. Want Dolby Atmos? Apple doesn’t support it yet, so go with a Roku Ultra — but beware that doesn’t support Dolby Vision. If you’re planning on watching YouTube in 4K, don’t get that Apple TV, it doesn’t support that either. You want something that supports Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, and YouTube in 4K? Get a Chromecast Ultra, but you won’t get an actual remote with it. You see, this is the land of compromise, where you can’t have it all, unless you buy it all. There is no box that can give you everything you want from your TV. And with HDR formats still being built out, this likely won’t be the last set-top box you’ll buy in the next five years, if you want to keep … [Read more...] about The best set-top box for your 4K HDR TV

August is now giving Doorbell Cam and Doorbell Cam Pro users 24 hours of free stored video recording as part of its new Basic August Video Recording subscription. Users can now watch and access any video recorded on an August device from the last 24 hours using the activity feed on the August app. August suggests that it could help users identify visitors at their door who they’ve missed earlier in the day or review suspicious activity. “Now if you miss a motion notification or experience a porch pirate walking off with a package from your doorstep, you can access and review the stored video from the August app,” said Jason Johnson, CEO of August Home, in a statement. August’s new deal offering free recording appears to be an attempt to remain competitive against smart brands like Ring, which was bought by Amazon last month for more than $1 billion. Before the update, you had to pay to store videos, as there was no free cloud storage option. A premium video … [Read more...] about August is giving Doorbell Cam users 24 hours of free cloud storage

If you're shopping for new light bulbs, then you might be thinking about common lighting concerns like brightness and efficiency. Soraa, a lighting startup based out of California, hopes that you consider color quality, too. After years of developing light fixtures for color-conscious commercial settings like restaurants and museums, the company is now offering consumers residential lighting options, as well. Front and center among them: the Soraa Radiant 60W Replacement LED, which sells for $14 plus shipping (pro-tip: it's Prime eligible on Amazon). That's obviously pretty expensive for a single 60W replacement bulb, but Soraa has some legitimate lighting chops. The company's founder, Shuji Nakamura, is a Nobel Prize-winning engineer whose work basically made the modern LED light bulb possible in the first place. For that reason, I was eager to test the Radiant LED, particularly its claims of superior color quality. Unlike incandescent bulbs, which emit lots of energy from the … [Read more...] about This pink LED light bulb really helps colors pop

LG has set $3,000 as the baseline price if you want one of the company’s latest, most advanced OLED TVs. That’s for the 55-inch model of the C8 series, which includes LG’s new a9 processor for reduced noise and smoother gradation (less banding). There will also be a less expensive B8 series in the lineup, but it will lack the new chip and should offer near-identical performance to last year’s sets. Stepping up to the 65-inch C8 will cost $4,000, and the 77-inch version will run $10,000. So yes, OLED TVs are still very pricey, but as CNET notes, the good news is that once these models go on sale, we should see some of the lowest prices LG has ever offered. Buying a brand-new TV as soon as it hits the market in the spring is almost always a bad idea. During last year’s Black Friday period, you could buy a terrific LG OLED for just $1,600. The B8 could ultimately drop even lower than that, though you’ll still have to pay a bit of a premium to get the … [Read more...] about LG’s premium 2018 OLED TVs have lower starting prices than ever

Smart home hubs, the devices that are used to control and secure all other internet-connected devices in a home, is quite vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Security researchers from Kaspersky Lab have claimed that the smart home hub is a 'vast attack surface' for intruders, mostly because its weak password generation algorithms and open ports.On the other hand, criminals can use the device to gain access to important private data, including usernames and passwords and, in some instances, phone numbers as well.“The research we’ve conducted on smart home hubs confirms that these connected devices are at risk of an attack – resulting in vulnerabilities across millions of homes. Though it’s no surprise that IoT devices are still proving to be insecure, gadgets that are commonplace in homes, containing personal data, should be afforded the utmost security protection. The fact that smart home hub meters are open to attack from cybercriminals is very concerning due to … [Read more...] about Smart home hubs could be vulnerable to attacks

Bixby fans, rejoice. DJ Koh, president of Samsung’s mobile division, has confirmed at Mobile World Congress that the company’s long-rumored Bixby smart speaker will be out sometime in the second half the year, according to The Wall Street Journal. Samsung confirmed that it was working on the smart speaker last August, and rumors from December pegged a release for sometime in the first half of 2018 for around $200, although it seems that the rumored release date has since slipped to the second half of the year. There’s still not much information about what the Bixby speaker will look like or what it will be able to do, but presumably Samsung will be looking to tie the device in as a central hub for its SmartThings smart home system in addition to the usual plethora of smart speaker features like music, reminders, timers, and trivia. Koh told the WSJ, “I want to focus on more premium,” for the upcoming speaker. That could indicate an intention to try to … [Read more...] about Samsung’s Bixby smart speaker is coming in the second half of 2018

Amazon is eliminating the frustration of having to constantly re-enter your cable credentials whenever you install certain apps on its Fire TV streaming gadgets. Like Apple and Roku before it, Amazon has now introduced a Single Sign-On feature that remembers your account information across TV Everywhere apps from the likes of A&E, AMC, HGTV, and more. (Supported networks and participating cable operators vary between the two.) Single Sign-On already supports most major cable and satellite providers with the glaring exception of Comcast Xfinity. But Spectrum, DirecTV, Dish, Optimum, Verizon FiOS, and many others are covered. Amazon says the feature will be rolling out over the next several hours for all of the below apps. Single Sign-On supports all existing Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, and Fire TV Edition television products. Obviously some key channels (HBO, for instance) are still missing, but it’s not a terrible list to start. AFTVnews has some screenshots if you want to see … [Read more...] about Amazon’s Fire TV now lets you sign in just once for cable apps

The 2018 Winter Olympics officially get started tonight from Pyeongchang, South Korea with mixed doubles curling. This is a new event for the Olympics and comes in advance of Friday’s opening ceremony and the lighting of the Olympic torch. More competition is scheduled for tomorrow including figure skating and freestyle skiing. If you’re like me and find the highs and lows of the Olympics irresistible, you’re probably wondering about the best way to watch the games. After all, where else can you bounce around from seeing pure elation when someone achieves a lifelong dream to the embarrassment and anguish they show after totally blowing it with one wrong move? NBC is the official broadcast partner for the 2018 Winter Olympics here in the United States and plans to blanket its various NBCUniversal networks — NBC, NBC Sports Network, USA, CNBC, and the Olympic Channel — with coverage. Here’s how that shakes out: NBC: 176 hours of total coverageDaily … [Read more...] about How to stream the 2018 Winter Olympics